GOP Congressional Candidate Explains Why Military Rape Is Natural

Virginia State Sen. Richard "Dick" Black announced last week that he is running for Congress this year to fill retiring GOP Rep. Frank Wolf's seat. A former military prosecutor, Black started his career in politics as a state House delegate in 1998. He's an extreme social conservative who's said, as Molly Redden at Mother Jones chronicles, some interesting things along the way. In her report Wednesday, Redden dug up Black's thoughts on military sexual assault. After retiring as a military prosecutor in 1994, 

"He spoke frequently to media outlets about sexual assault in the military, and called military rape 'as predictable as human nature.' 'Think of yourself at 25,' Black told a newspaper in 1996. 'Wouldn't you love to have a group of 19-year-old girls under your control, day in, day out?'"

Yep, nothing to be done about a male urge to control women through rape. Black's also opposed making spousal rape a crime, and explained during a debate in 2002, "I do not know how on Earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape where they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie, and so forth, there is no injury, there’s no separation or anything." His comments suggest he's not sure what rape is. 

Black got his J.D. from the University of Florida and began his Army law career in the late 1970s. He was the head the Army's Criminal Law Division from 1992-1994. The CLD's job is to give legal advice to military commanders regarding "military justice, disciplinary, and adverse administrative matters." So, for at least a two-year period in the U.S. Army, the man charged with advising commanders on sexual assault cases thought rape was just "human nature." Which brings us to the current debate in Congress.

Read the full story on The Wire.